J. Dinkins G. Grange is an attorney in Northeast Florida, helping his clients find solutions to their financial problems, which in some cases includes bankruptcy in some cases. This Blog contains general bankruptcy relevant information. His practice includes representing clients in various areas of civil litigation including Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcies, foreclosure defense and probate.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

I know what you are thinking. You are
thinking, an Identity Theft Report, I thought that's what I just did.
Well, there is a little more to it. The report I am referring to
here is one that will assist you in dealing with the company that
improperly opened an account in your name. This could include any
number of credit reporting companies, businesses, and debt
collectors.

You should find this report useful when
working with companies to get fraudulent information removed from
your credit report and prevent the company from initiating or
continuing debt collection efforts. It will help you place an
extended fraud alert on your credit reports, and assist you in
getting information from companies about your improperly opened and
improperly used accounts.

So, how do you create this report?
:Like most things, the steps are relatively simple, but they will
take up some of you time. First, you should submit a report to the
Federal Trade Commission. Print a copy of the report for your safe
keeping, and it will be referred to as the Identity Theft Affidavit.
Secondly, with your Identity Theft Affidavit in hand, contact the
police and file out a police report. Again, keep a copy of the
police report and report number. These 2 documents make up your
Identity Theft Report.

So, how do you get hold of the FTC. My
first suggestion is to look online, and see if there is a process for
completing these steps on their web site. The internet is rapidly
changing, and this seems to be the way of the future.

If looking online does not work, you
can call them at

1-877-438-4338

1-866-653-4261 (TTY)

Simply follow the directions of the
person on the phone (which will probably be to go to the internet).
Submit the information, and save the complaint reference number.

Of course, as always, update your files
as to when you filed the complaint, and make sure to keep a copy of
everything, including the affidavit.

From time to time you may find you will
need to update your file. How do you do this? Well, call the number
above. Make sure you have your reference number ready.

OK, so that's the FTC side of this.
Now, lets move forward with the filing of the Police Report. Again,
you can give them a call and find out if you should go down to the
police station, or if they will send an officer to you. When you
tell them why you are calling, they will give you the proper steps to
take. They will probably want to see a government issued ID with a
photo, some form of proof of the theft, a copy of the FTC documents
you just completed above, and some proof of your address (like a
utility bill).

Friday, February 15, 2013

Now
that you’ve placed an initial
fraud alert (see Part 1), you’re entitled to a free credit
report from each of the three credit reporting companies. The credit
reporting company you call will explain your rights and how you
can get a free copy of your credit report. Order the report and ask
the company to show only the last four digits of your Social Security
number on your report.

If you know which of your accounts have been tampered with,
contact the related businesses. Talk to someone in the fraud
department, and follow up in writing. Send your letters by certified
mail; return receipt requested; doing so creates a record of when they received your
communication.

When you review the credit reports, you may find unauthorized
charges or accounts. You will need to learn how to review your credit report and
dispute errors. Later I will post a short article on disputing
errors, and post a link here to that page.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

What should you do if you have had you ID stolen? The
following is Part 1 of a multi-part series on what you should do
regarding ID theft.

PART 1. Place a Fraud Alert.

There are three national credit reporting companies keeping
records of your credit history. If someone has misused your personal
or financial information, call one (1) of the
companies and ask for an initial fraud alert be placed on your credit
report. The fraud alert is FREE. The credit reporting company will
ask you to provide proof of your identity. This you must do. After
reporting to the company you choose to call, that company must tell
the other companies about your alert.

An initial fraud alert can make it harder for an identity thief to
open more accounts in your name. When you have an alert on your
report, a business must verify your identity before it issues credit,
so it may try to contact you. The initial fraud alert stays on your
report for at least 90 days, and you can renew it after the 90 days
has passed. It also allows you to order one free copy of your credit
report from each of the three credit reporting companies, even if you
have received a free copy within the passed 12 months. Be sure the
credit reporting companies have your current contact information so
they can get in touch with you.

Friday, February 8, 2013

So, you need to file bankruptcy, but where should you file? Bankruptcies are filed according to where you reside, or if you have been there for less than 180 days, then it is according to where you have lived. The below assumes you have lived within a particular area, called a Division (which is part of a District) for at least 180 days before filing.

The state of Florida is broken up into
3 Districts, known as the Northern, Middle, and Southern Districts.
Each District is further broken up into Divisions. The Middle
District is divided into four Divisions known as the Jacksonville,
Ocala, Orlando, Tampa and Ft. Myers Divisions.

You would file in the District, subject
to certain residency requirements, as follows:

You would file in the JACKSONVILLE
Division if you reside in one of the following counties: Baker,
Bradford, Citrus, Clay, Columbia, Duval, Flagler, Hamilton, Nassau, Putnam, St. Johns, Suwannee, and Union . The
place of holding court is Jacksonville.

You would file in the OCALA Division if you reside in one of the following counties: Citrus, Lake, Marion and Sumter. This place for holding court is Ocala.

You would file in the ORLANDO Division
if you reside in one of the following counties: Brevard, Lake,
Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Volusia. The place of holding court is
Orlando.

You would file in the TAMPA Division if
you reside in one of the following counties: Hardee, Hernando,
Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk and Sarasota. The place
of holding court is Tampa.

You would file in the FT. MYERS
Division if you reside in one of the following counties: Charlotte,
Collier, DeSoto, Glades, Hendry and Lee. The place of holding court is Ft. Myers.

If you plan on filing bankruptcy having
lived within a particular District for less than 180 days, you should
seek the advise of an attorney to determine where you need to file.

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

I recently received an advertisement
from a well known internet service provider letting me know my web
site (www.bankruptcyjax.com)
would not be found if someone typed in Bankruptcy Attorney
Jacksonville. Sure enough, I tried it, and my listing was not found.
I am a little surprised they did not include a phrase, such as

Best
Bankruptcy Attorney in Jacksonville.

Or how about Best, Stupendous, Outrageous...well, you get the idea.

What did I find? I found a lot of
advertising various attorneys are paying for, followed by sites
Google has ranked pursuant to the search criteria.

So, how should you search for the results you are looking for. I do not have a solid answer, but if you would like a couple of suggestions from someone that knows next to nothing about SEO (that's Search Engine Optimization, not some slanted phrase you are probably thinking of), then here we go.

My suggestion, if you are looking for a
bankruptcy attorney in your area, do some research. This involves
typing words into search engines various ways. For example, if you
type in

Jacksonville Bankruptcy Attorney

Bankruptcy Attorney
Jacksonville

Attorney Bankruptcy Jacksonville

you will get
different results. The words are the same, but search engines view these entries as being different, resulting in different results. To narrow the results, you may want to include
the name of the area of the city or town you are in, or in larger
cities, a general direction. My office happens to be in a more rural
area of Jacksonville, so one has a better chance of finding my site
if they add the word West to the search criteria.

I recently read that Google tends to
place businesses that advertise with them (yep, send them money) in a
better position within their search engine. So if you want to find
an attorney in your area of town, that has the qualifications you are
looking for, you may want to go past the firms that throw money at
the search engines, and start looking at the more meaningful ranking
of websites.

If you have discovered a good way to bring up the search results you are looking for, please post your suggestions below.

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Jacksonville Bankruptcy Attorney -- J. Dinkins G. Grange, Esquire

I am a consumer bankruptcy attorney
helping people with their financial situations. As a bankruptcy lawyer, I help people find
various alternatives towards handling their financial problems, and
if needed, I can provide legal assistance to consumers seeking relief
under the bankruptcy code. I can be contacted by email at dgrange@grangelaw.org. I am available by appointment
during the week and most evenings.

I am located in Green Cove Springs on North Street, and Middleburg on Palmetto Street.

I am a member of the National
Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys (www.nacba.org),
Jacksonville Bankruptcy Bar Association, American Bar Association,
Florida Bar, and Jacksonville Bar Association.

I have also been designated a debt
relief agency by Congress and the United States Supreme Court and I
help clients file for bankruptcy relief under the bankruptcy code.

Disclosure:

We are a debt relief agency. We help clients file for bankruptcy relief under the Bankruptcy Code. The hiring of a lawyer is an important decision that should not be based solely upon advertisements. This blog site is designed for general information only. The information presented at this site should not be construed to be formal legal advice nor the formation of a lawyer/client relationship.